Regret
by wolfsblood636
Summary: When Draco Malfoy is sitting by the Great Lake regretting his life and the decisions he made, contemplating suicide, an unlikely person shows him the utmost kindness.
1. Chapter 1

It couldn't have started worse, in his opinion, as he looked back on the choices he had made the past three years. He had only been saying what he had been taught to say, treating people the way he had been raised to treat them. He tried so hard to impress everyone, to make people think that he didn't care. He tried, oh so hard, to make people believe that it didn't matter to him, that it didn't hurt. It did hurt, though. It hurt a lot. He had tried, albeit atrociously, to extend a hand of friendship. Maybe he had gone about it the wrong way. Could it be possible he had said the wrong things? What did it matter now anyway? He didn't have anyone like Harry Potter did. He didn't have true friends or people that truly cared for him for him and not because of who his family was.

He tossed a pebble angrily into the Great Lake, wondering what was hidden in its murky depths. He had heard stories but didn't know which were true. He sat there, contemplating, wondering. He didn't care anymore. There wasn't a single person at Hogwarts that cared for him and what did he have at home? An overbearing mother and an abusive father. Sure he spoke of his father often but only because it seemed to make people like him. If only people knew what he was really like. They thought life at the Malfoy Manor was pleasant when it was the exact opposite. They would never know what it was really like. He wouldn't allow it.

He pulled the knife out from under his robes and sighed. He knew it was what he had to do. After all, who would miss him when he was gone? Who would care if he, Draco Malfoy, ceased to exist. He twirled the knife in his fingers. He knew it would probably hurt but that pain would at least be bearable.

"What's the point, anymore? Nobody really loves me for me. Not like they do Potter," Draco groaned.

He lifted the knife and brought it down. Surprisingly enough his hand stopped but not because of him. Draco opened his eyes and saw Harry Potter standing there, holding his hand, preventing him from escaping the pain.

"What are you doing, Potter?" Draco sneered.

Harry didn't say a word, merely sitting down next to his arch enemy. He picked up a rock and tossed it across the Lake, watching it skip across the water, ripples forming. He was trying to figure out what to say. He had no idea what to say to the young Slytherin.

"Growing up with the Dursley's, " Harry began, "was hell. I was beaten constantly by my uncle and cousin, starved, and made to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs."

Draco looked at him incredulously. Harry Potter had grow up in an abusive household? There was no possible way.

"I felt the same way. Like nobody cared. Until I came here that is. Hogwarts changed my life because I chose to let it. If I had just kept up with my grudges I wouldn't be where I am today. Or have the friends I have. Everything that has happened, Draco, is in the past. I'm willing, with apologies, to give you a second chance. I can't promise you anything. I can promise you though that I will try. Let me talk to Hermione. Ron will take a bit of convincing to forgive you."

Draco frowned. After all he had done, after all he had said, Harry Potter was willing to forgive him. Maybe that alone proved who was the better of the two. Draco looked up at Harry.

"I'm sorry for everything. I'm not going to make up excuses or blame anyone else. What I did and what I said was my own choice. Nobody made me say or do any of those things. They were wrong and for that I apologize."

Harry smiled and took Draco's hand pulling him up. "I forgive you. Now let's go inside."

The two new found friends walked side by side into the castle, ignoring the stunned looks from the other students at Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 2

As Draco and Harry walked into Hogwarts together, side by side, the whispers began. Every single person stopped and turned to look at the pair. The two had been arch enemies since the first day on the Hogwarts Express but now, now they were talking calmly, seeming to thoroughly enjoy the conversation they were sharing.

"Draco," a high, shrill voice shrieked. It was Pansy Parkinson. "Draco, what are you doing with Potter?! Wait till your father hears about this."

Draco turned to Pansy and for a slight second Harry was worried that maybe Draco hadn't been upset at all, that maybe he had been faking it. Then Draco did something that shocked everyone, even Harry.

"Shut up, Pansy! I don't give a damn what you tell my father. I'm sick and tired of you and the rest of the Slytherins. Honestly, you guys are the most pathetic excuses for what could even remotely be called friends. And, furthermore, I hate you more than anyone! Always following me around like a lost puppy. It's sickening, it really is! I am done! Do you hear me? I am done with you guys. I'm done with doing what my father wants. To hell with Voldemort. I hope Harry beats him time and again."

With that Draco turned back to Harry who, because of Draco's past, cringed slightly, worried that Draco may go off on him. Draco didn't. He merely smiled at Harry and winked. Harry stepped back for a minute, flabbergasted. Was Draco Malfoy hitting on him? The raven haired Gryffindor was uncertain about it until Draco spoke up.

"You have no idea how great that felt," he laughed, following Harry into the Great Hall. "Merlin knows I have been wanting to do that for years. And to think, my wretched parents have me arranged to be married to her. I, on the other hand, have my eyes on little Astoria Greengrass."

Harry stopped abruptly turning towards Draco. He couldn't believe what he just heard. Astoria Greengrass? The witch in Hufflepuff who had muggle parents. Harry stared at Draco and suddenly got a sinking suspicion that he was hiding something. Maybe there was another girl Draco liked. Before Harry would've automatically guessed it to be another Slytherin but now he wasn't so sure. As the two walked into the Great Hall, side by side, laughing and joking, the usual commotion in the Great Hall ceased. Everyone turned to look at the pair, confused. That was when the whispers began. It wasn't far from everyone's minds that Harry had just last year been outed as a Parselmouth. Now he was hanging out with Draco Malfoy? Ernie Macmillan turned to Hannah Abbott at the Hufflepuff table and began to tell her how he knew that Harry was a dark wizard all along and that he was probably going to be more evil then Voldemort.

At the Gryffindor table Ron and Hermione stared at the two in shock, mouth agape. The Gryffindor quidditch team spoke to each other in low whispers and decided that Harry was probably only being friendly to Draco to help Gryffindor win their match against Slytherin. Nobody, though, could figure out why Draco was being friendly to Harry or why almost the entire Slytherin table ignored Draco and pointedly turned their backs when he sat down amongst them.

Draco sighed. Perhaps telling off Pansy wasn't such a great idea. Now he would spend the next few days or even years being ignored by the people he had to spend most of his time with. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, though. Draco felt like he had found a true friend in Harry. Someone who genuinely liked him and not just because of his name or money but because of who he was. Draco had never realized before how much he and Harry had in common. He sat there, eating his lunch, thinking about it, contemplating it and decided, when Ron went to the Hospital Wing after accidently putting a fork through his hand, to join Harry and Hermione during Potions class. He knew Harry would be fine with it but he was nervous as to how Hermione would be towards him. He had, after all, called her the worst name a pure blood could ever call a muggle born witch: mudblood. He had actually regretted it seconds after saying it but he knew, at that time, that he couldn't take it back. Especially not in front of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Now, though, he could sincerely apologize and hope that she would forgive him.


End file.
